Missing pensioner’s body found in river

Police said teams of officers had been searching for the woman, who is thought to have been in her early 80s, after she had gone missing from her home address in the area.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said officers made the discovery at Sprotbrough Falls, on the River Don, near the village of Sprotbrough, at lunchtime on Saturday.

The area, to the west of Doncaster town centre, is popular with walkers, cyclists and anglers and also offers moorings as a stop-off point for boats passing between Doncaster and Rotherham.

Sprotbrough Falls are bypassed by the channel for Sprotbrough Lock, which is where the River Don meets the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigation.

The police spokeswoman said last night that it was not yet clear how the woman had come to be in the water at the falls, or where she had been before her death and subsequent discovery by police search teams.

The spokeswoman added: “Police officers had been searching for a missing woman in Doncaster.

“At about 12.25pm the body was found in the Sprotbrough Falls area.

“At present no further information about the woman, or her identity or address is being released by officers involved. Detectives are not treating the death as suspicious.”

A formal identification of the victim is expected later today and a file is likely to be compiled by investigating officers, which will be passed to the Doncaster coroner’s office in preparation for an inquest into the death.